Kofi grinned. “My Shiver, eh? I love the sound of that.”
“You know something? So do I.”
Kofi finished his coffee and placed the cup into the sink. He really didn’t feel like eating, but he stared at the pot, wishing he could actually keep something down.
“Can we do something until Osaki comes back?” Carter asked. “Maybe cook him something to eat or go for a walk around this beautiful estate?”
“For sure. Let me change into something a little more comfortable. You’re going to love this place, Carter.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Osaki folded his arms behind his back and walked silently beside Kofi along the sakura-lined path. A river ran silently, merrily on its way. Osaki didn’t even mind the nippy air. He loved the feel of a cool breeze on his face. He glanced over at Kofi and inhaled. The walk was his lover’s idea and though Osaki was trying to be patient, he was curious as to what Kofi had on his mind.
“Kofi.”
“I’m sorry,” Kofi blurted out. “I have so much I want to say to you, but it just seems to all be jumbled inside my head.”
“Just start at the first point,” Osaki advised.
Kofi touched his arm and he stopped walking to face Kofi.
“Just talk to me, Kofi. I am here.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“That is because it is. You never have to be afraid with me.”
Kofi did not look convinced. For a silent minute, he stared into Osaki’s gaze. Osaki kept eye contact, caressing Kofi’s cheeks gently until Kofi nodded and cleared his throat.
“When you faced your brother, I couldn’t help thinking there were so many things I wanted to say to you and never would get the chance.” Kofi licked his lips. “Like— Like…”
“You love me.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You said that and I love hearing you say it, but go to the next thing.”
Kofi chuckled. “Well, when you touch me, I can’t help losing control. Your fingertips against my body turn me on more than anything ever has before. You make me weak in places I never thought possible.”
“Darling, this is good to hear, but why did you fear you could not tell me this?”
“Because… My man deserves to know what he does to me.”
“I am not the kind of man who loves his ego stroked, Kofi.”
“It has nothing to do with ego, Osaki. Don’t you get it? This is important to me. I need you to know this is real. This isn’t just experiment for me. You have to know I’m serious about you and there’s no going back for me.”
“My darling, Kofi Olabasu.” Osaki cradled Kofi’s cheeks and brushed their lips together. “I am glad you are staying with me. I couldn’t bear the thought of never having you naked and moaning my name. Do not blush, my sweet. I am just being truthful.”
“I know.”
“I love you, Kofi, and I will hold your hand for as long as you want me.”
“What if I want you to forever?”
Osaki grinned. He was weakened by the question and in reply, he kissed Kofi softly at first before taking a break and deepening the kiss. As their tongues flowed over each another’s, he slid his arms around Kofi’s body, pulling him forward. When Kofi fell into his chest, Osaki groaned and pulled his mouth away. “I want to take you home, darling, but I have a surprise for you. Come with me.”
“I thought we were making out!”
Osaki laughed. “We are—were—will be! Come. This will not take long.”
With their fingers looped together, Osaki led Kofi off the property and down a small road. Before long, he turned them right, crossed a bridge and dipped through what looked like arches to what used to be a great house. In the courtyard, he stopped and looked around.
“Osaki? What are you looking for?” Kofi questioned.
He dropped a kiss to Kofi’s hand and led him to a small blue house in the far corner of the old courtyard. He knocked a couple of times on the door and a voice called for them to enter. Osaki released Kofi’s hand and opened the door to allow Kofi in before him. In the small, well-lit space, an elderly man turned to face them, gently cradling a black puppy. Osaki bowed and when he stood was quite proud to see Kofi doing the same.
“Michihiro Sensei,” Osaki said. “Please meet my mate.”
“You are Kofi Olabasu,” Michihiro said calmly. “You have chosen well, Osaki.”
“Thank you?” Kofi asked.
Michihiro smiled. He stepped toward Kofi and extended the animal.
“Um…” Kofi glanced over at Osaki, who nodded.
“Osaki has procured him for you,” Michihiro explained. “He is Akita—his breed.”
Osaki watched the way Kofi’s hands shook as he took the small dog and instantly kissed his head.
“Oh, Osaki,” Kofi whispered. “What’s his name?”
“He does not have one as of yet,” Osaki explained, reaching in to scratch the puppy’s belly. “I was hoping you would give him one.”
Kofi lifted the dog up as one would a baby and looked up into his face. For a bit, Kofi remained quiet before grinning impishly. “I’ll name him Ai.”
“Love?” Michihiro asked. “How appropriate.”’
Osaki smiled knowingly. “How appropriate, indeed.”
* * * *
Kofi spent the next few days running around fielding calls from Christophe and ensuring his friend was settled into his new job and back in school. Though he spent time with Osaki, it wasn’t as much as he’d like. Osaki was busy dealing with everything Shivers did from training with Ciro and Koi to fighting wars with Ares and Adrestia. With everything happening, Kofi did find time to bond with his gift from Osaki, Ai, the beautiful puppy. He glanced to his left to see Ai rolling a blue ball Carter had bought him around on the bamboo floor. Kofi smiled.
“You’re going to have to entertain yourself tonight, you know?” Kofi asked Ai.
The puppy wasn’t really paying attention. When the ball rolled underneath a chair, Ai went back to the dental bone he’d been busy chewing on until the ball had taken his attention. Kofi chuckled before turning off the stove and glancing at the clock. He had five minutes before Osaki would arrive. He quickly ran into the guest bathroom and checked on himself. Finally satisfied with what he was wearing and his breath, he hurried back into the kitchen and dished out some miso in two Pyrex bowls. He set up the rest of dinner, lit two candles and turned down the lights in the dining room. Ai was not impressed with the mood lighting, he barked until Kofi shushed him.
“Darling?” Osaki called.
“In the dining room!”
“Something smells delicious.” Osaki’s footsteps sounded down the hall then finally into the room. “Wow.”
“Good wow or bad wow?”
The samurai closed the distance between them and kissed Kofi. “Very good wow. Is all this for me?”
“I know I haven’t been spending as much time with you lately and I wanted to have a date night with my man—so no patrols, no Shiver drama, no disappearing and a little later, if you play your cards right, no clothes!”
“Now there is a date night I can enjoy,” Osaki whispered, nipping at Kofi’s bottom lip. “I shall be your ever humble, ever obedient student.”
Kofi laughed and they sat down to dinner. For the first time since the whole debacle started, he didn’t spend his days worried and scared. Lately, he was happy and laughing more. He was kinder to those around him and he knew it had something to do with Osaki. They went through dinner, even managed to keep their hands off each other long enough to have some dessert. When they finally retired to the bedroom, Kofi felt nervous again. Somehow, this time was different from every other time they’d made love. He cleared his throat and removed his shirt. He’d left Osaki to blow out the candles and to fill the dishwasher. The room was silent and scary and he wasn’t sure why.
“You know I can feel you there, right?” Kofi asked without turning.
“I am s
orry. I did not wish to disturb you but my body yearns for you.”
“I still have to get used to the way you speak to me,” Kofi said. “It’s so old world and beautiful.”
“We will do it together. But right now, I need you naked and panting for me.”
“Are you sure I’ll be the one panting? It could be the other way around.”
“I am not ashamed of it, Kofi. You make me weak with lust and I welcome it. I would admit it to anyone.”
“I thought samurai don’t do weakness.”
Osaki kissed Kofi’s ear while wrapping his arms around Kofi from behind. “Loving you, Kofi, is no weakness. It is one of the strongest things I have ever done.”
“Baby…”
Those soft, loving words made Kofi’s heart swell and having Osaki caressing his body and his dick hard. Kofi willingly slumped into his man’s chest and dropped his head against Osaki’s shoulder. His eyes rolled back and a moan escaped his throat for Osaki was massaging him, caressing him, dragging a large hand up to his nipples and pinching. The heat that caused sent Kofi’s knees wobbling but he managed to remain standing, even when Osaki’s hand found its way into the front of Kofi’s pants.
“Let’s see how hard you can make me.”
“Is that a dare, Kofi?”
“Oh hell yes.”
Kofi spread his legs, allowed Osaki to undo his pants and pushed them to the floor. When he was bare for Osaki’s roaming hands, he braced himself as Osaki grabbed his dick.
Kofi writhed his hips forward, sliding his tender dick through Osaki’s tight first. “Squeeze harder,” Kofi pleaded. “Jerk me off.
He lost all control then, for Osaki’s grip went from heated to cool, sliding over the flesh of his shaft like kisses from an ice cube.
“Do you like this?” Osaki asked.
“Oh, yes…”
Kofi allowed the sensations to take him away and gave himself over to the pleasure Osaki was giving to him. He ground his ass back into Osaki’s body, loving how hard Osaki was getting. Groaning, he turned in Osaki’s arms. “I think we should go to the bed.”
“Yes. I wish to taste you, Kofi.” Osaki explained, peeling Osaki’s pants and boxers off his ankles. “Get on your hands and knees.”
Kofi happily assumed the position. He glanced over his shoulder as Osaki caressed his ass, trailing a finger over one cheek then the next. Osaki spread them and traced a finger over Kofi’s hole. “Oh, baby,” Kofi whimpered.
“Tell me what you want me to do now, Kofi.”
“Put your tongue in it,” Kofi said vulgarly. “I want you to eat it.”
Osaki dipped his head lower and Kofi held his breath. When Osaki licked him, Kofi shook his head and moaned. Repeatedly, Osaki licked at him like a cat lapping delicious milk. Each time his tongue flowed over him, Kofi weakened even more and his cock throbbed, spewing pre-cum onto the sheets beneath him.
“Lick it!” Kofi whispered fiercely, riding back on Osaki’s tongue. “Yes, baby, that’s it.”
Kofi was in the perfect place. His nipples rubbed on the pillows, sending even more pleasure through him. Each time he gyrated back onto Osaki, his nipples and Osaki’s tongue synced, leaving him trembling. He muttered his love over and over for Osaki. He couldn’t help himself. No matter how hard he tried keeping his words to himself, Osaki’s tongue was skillful and he lost his mind and confessed.
Osaki fucked him—hard and deep. He slammed into Kofi’s body while gripping his shoulders for leverage. Kofi’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped but no sound came. Unable to think, he gripped his own cock and stroked it, still surprised at how hard it was, even as Osaki repeatedly crashed into his body like a storm wave.
“You have to fuck me,” Osaki panted. “I need to be fucked.”
Without questioning it and in his passion-filled deliria, Kofi pushed Osaki to the bed. He took a moment to prepare, lathering Osaki’s hole with lube and finding a condom in the bedside drawer. He then slid his cock into his Shiver. It was a feeling so unbelievable that he ground his teeth to keep from coming. Gripping Osaki’s hips, Kofi rode him, hard. Every time Osaki cried out, Kofi slapped his thigh then Osaki’s nipples.
“Kofi, yes!” Osaki shouted, arching his back and opening his body even more. “Give it to me, darling.”
Kofi pressed the heels of his hands on Osaki’s nipples even as Osaki’s tightness clung to him, sucking his orgasm from him and leaving him spent and weak on Osaki’s chest. “Osaki…”
But Osaki merely trembled, went stiff and exploded between their bodies. The hot, sticky wetness of Osaki’s jizz burned sweetly into Kofi’s flesh.
“Watashi wa itsumo, soshite itsu made mo anata o aishite.”
“What does that mean?” Kofi was too weak to lift his head.
“I love you—always and forever.”
KOI
Book three in the Shivers series
When a Shiver’s fed up, no one’s safe.
Koi Pyktis is the last of the Shivers and, lately, he’s been feeling as if the whole world is in love, leaving him the odd Shiver out. Though he has his eyes on Kofi’s friend, Christophe Sidler, he knows he must keep his hands off him. His father’s enemies are out there and they seem hell-bent on starting a war between the Shivers and anyone else they want.
Christophe Sidler has loved Koi Pyktis since the moment he laid eyes on the studly Greek. But he’s fresh from mourning his mother, getting his feet wet in the business world and trying desperately not to put his foot in his mouth around Koi.
However, what will Christophe feel and say when he finds out what Koi really is, and where will Christophe stand in the battle ahead?
Dedication
For Amanda Duchene
Trademark Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Town Car: The Ford Motor Company
Sleepy Hollow : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory : Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
How to Get Away with Murder : ABC Studios, ShondaLand, NoWalk Entertainment
Started from the Bottom : Drake, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
YouTube: Google, Inc.
Lego: Lego Juris A/S
Agent 47 : TSG Entertainment
The Matrix : Village Roadshow Pictures, Warner Bros, Silver Pictures
Batman: DC Comics
Percy Jackson: Rick Riordan
Range Rover: Jaguar Land Rover Limited
Power Ranger: SCG Power Rangers LLC
Cream Soda Spar-Letta: The Coca-Cola Company
“Something wicked this way comes”: Shakespeare
Prologue
“A king is neither husband nor father. He considers his throne and nothing else.”—Pierre Corneille
“You’re my son but you are my hero.”
Christophe Sidler closed his eyes tightly, fingering the smooth part of the rose between two thorns, remembering his mother’s words.
“No matter what happens or how this ends, you promise me you will be happy. That was one of my biggest goals in life—that my son be happy.”
The words dug into him. He wondered how she could expect him to be happy without her. She was all he had—the only person—other than Kofi Olabasu—who never looked at him like he was a freak.
“One day love will find you. And on that day, I want you to think of me and smile. On that day you will see that I sometimes knew what I was talking about.”
“Mom…”
“Let me go now, Christophe. It’s time to move on. I love you. I love…”
The weight of the flower made his hands weak. Christophe winced. Even on her death bed his mother hadn’t let him forget how much she cared. When the world was against him and seemed to be breaking him, his mother had always had a hug. Now, with the biggest hurt he’d ever experienced, he couldn’t go home and cra
wl into bed with her, rest his head against her shoulder and just close his eyes. He sat among the few people at his mother’s funeral. She’d been sick for so long it was hard for him to remember a time she was healthy. The few instances he could recall, she was a lively woman, a kind woman with bright brown eyes and the darkest of skin. She was beautiful to him, even after the cancer had set in and begun eating away at her. She’d always been proud of him and that pride had never been stronger than the moment he’d come out to her. The pain that he’d never see her again gripped him. Christophe bowed his head and clutched Kofi’s hand tighter. Since he was holding a flower in his other hand, he rested his head against Geoff’s shoulder.
The pastor was saying something about ‘from dust they came and will return’ and Christophe decided then to tune him out. He didn’t want to hear about his mother going back to earth—what he truly needed was Mary pinching his cheeks and telling him he should to eat more. She’d always worried about his eating habits since Christophe didn’t eat most unhealthy things. He had to keep his body in fighting shape for mixed martial arts.
Finally, the crowd moved and he looked up. They were proceeding past his mother’s coffin and placing red roses atop the box. Each flower to fall against the surface pulled something more inside Christophe and tears clouded his vision. He could barely breathe. The blue rose slipped from his fingers and landed in his lap. All he could do was bow his head and try to look at it but all he saw through his tears was the shadow of the flower his mother loved so much.
“You don’t have to get up again if you don’t want to,” Kofi Olabasu told him. “Geoff and I will stay right here with you.”
“He’s right,” Geoff replied. “Everything today is at the pace you can handle.”
“Thanks.” Christophe wiped his eyes and picked up the rose. “But if I don’t get up now, I never will.”
Shivers Page 33